Here's another past costume, my Hogwarts School Uniform from Harry Potter. I probably made this sometime between 2006 and 2008. It took me a couple painstaking years to do this one, and I've redone the shirt and skirt of it. And, now that I've seen the exhibit, if I ever find the *perfect* fabrics, I wouldn't mind re-doing the shirt and robe, too. So here's a bit about my Ravenclaw Uni.

And oh look, I've learned how to use jump breaks... click the link for my explanation and all my pretty pictures:

Monday, June 13, 2011

Quick lil post with crappy pics, threw on the whole thing to mark my zipper and try on the bodice/collar muslin, and it all fits very well! Not entirely sure if the collar is too big or just right, but I think once the sleeves and drape are attached it'll balance out.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

I am now the proud owner of a velvet needle board! And if you've ever looked for one, you know they're hard to find. No one manufactures them anymore, so the stores online that carry them want between $100-200 for them, and when they crop up on eBay they can go for around $80. I managed to score one for $55. For those who don't know, a needle board is, well, a board full of little wire needles so you can press velvet with an iron without crushing the pile! So, in honor of getting my new toy in the mail, I decided to test out my discharge paste.

According to the Dressing the Galaxy book, "I selected for Amidala's Senate Costume [p. 116] an inky blue velvet for the overdress, using a technique known as discharge printing (where areas of the original color are removed, forming a pattern, and another color painted in its place to highlight the design) to enhance the front panels with Naboo motifs."

I took a stencil and a stiff brush, and applied the discharge paste (which I got from Dharma Trading) to it, getting it in all the fibers. Then, it has to dry. Once dry, it needs to be steamed for 10 minutes, which gave me the opportunity to use my needleboard. This is how it came out:

I'm fairly excited, that went rather well! I just have to push the stencil down hard and take care on those thin lines, I think it bled over a little on those. This is the color it turned without me painting it. Question is, does this yellow work, or am I going to have to paint something in there...

I found a place that you can custom-order your own laser-cut stencils, so once I do my mock-up and get an exact scale, I'll send in my order for that